


Reaching Heaven Without Dying

by Straumoy



Series: Old FanFiction.net stories [1]
Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-05-01
Updated: 2005-05-01
Packaged: 2019-03-23 10:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13785759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Straumoy/pseuds/Straumoy
Summary: Seifer's Field Exam takes him to Timber, where his task is to ensure the safety and well-being of a certain Rinoa Heartilly...





	1. Listen When Alone

**Author's Note:**

> An older story I wrote a long time ago. It was originally posted on FanFiction.net but I figured there is no harm putting it up here if nothing else as a kind reminder where I once was as a writer.

Seifer, along with Fujin and Raijin, sat in the quad, deeply involved in their studies. Spring had finally arrived at Balamb and most students spent their time outdoors, bathing their winter pale skin in the sun in hopes of getting a tan, watching the flowers bloom into life little, by little and of course, boys being boys, the occasional prank with water spells. Under the shade of a tree, Squall sat quietly by himself, experimenting with non-elemental magic junctioning while scribbling down the effects in his notebook.

A sweet little chime rang over the garden speakers, signifying that there would an announcement over the intercom. "Seifer Almasy, please report to the headmasters office. I repeat; Seifer Almasy, please report to the headmasters office." The same chime sounded again, thus concluding the announcement. Fujin looked up from her Rescue Tactics book and eyed Seifer's face carefully with her brown eye. "ANNOUNCEMENT." She said, as if trying to get his attention. "The value of Spirit determines the degree of damage a character can endure from a magic attack. A character with high Spirit suffers less damage from magic attacks…" Seifer mumbled to himself, while reading half loud from his book. "Will ya relax a bit Seifer? Ya passed that written test, with flying ace, y'know?" Raijin cut in, nudging Seifer a bit with his elbow. "That might be so, but I just want to be sure. Squall got 498 points out of 500 possible on the same test. I can't afford any slip-ups." Seifer replied; his eyes still glued to the textbook.

A person's shadow slowly crept in over Seifer's textbook. "Give it a rest will you! I'm trying to read here damn it!" Seifer barked as he raised his head, only to be confronted with Quistis' frown. "Oh, it's just you. For a moment I thought it was someone important…" Seifer grunted with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Didn't you hear the announcement?" Quistis asked, ignoring Seifer's little comment. "Well, whatever it was, it wasn't about me 'cause I've been a good boy all week, ma'am." Seifer smirked back. "Don't you ever read the news on the garden network?" Quistis sighed with a tired expression on her face. "Mmmm… nope." Seifer shrugged, clearly not giving a damn. "A Field Exam is coming up, and you're on the top of the list. Now please report to the headmasters office for details and briefing." Quistis half complained.

From afar, Squall took a little pause in his studies and drank some juice while reviewing his notes. A nearly transparent mini Shiva sat on his right shoulder. He held up the juice carton to Shiva and the guardian force to the hint. A little gesture with her hands, and frost gathered around the carton, chilling the liquid inside. "Hey Squall, looks like I'm going to beat you to becoming a SeeD after all." Seifer gloated as soon as he walked past Squall. Squall on the other hand, made no reply. "Heck, I might even steal Quistis from you. Seifer and Quistis, the prodigy SeeD's…" He laughed a little, as it was no secret that there was some sort of relationship between Squall and Quistis. "…you can have her." Squall mumbled before throwing the juice carton in the trashcan.

The headmaster's office was the same as always. Headmaster Cid's big, brown and throne looking chair in the centre and big windows behind it. The huge red double doors seemed to have been given a new paint job, but other than that, it was as if time stood still on the 3rd floor. "Good day to you Seifer. Please do come in." Headmaster Cid greeted him as soon as he came in. "Headmaster…" Seifer returned the greeting with a short nod. "I'll cut straight to the point. A few days ago we received a request from a client and we've been spending the past 3 days hammering out the details of the contract." Cid began. "The mission is to protect an individual from being kidnapped and used to blackmail the client. Your mission starts tomorrow and will end after roughly speaking 2-3 months."

Seifer just stood there dumbstruck. He was to baby-sit some moron, for 3 months straight? Get real! He wanted to fight battles, not change diapers. "Why me?" Seifer asked. "The client is of great importance to the Galbadian army and he's specified that he wanted the very best that Garden has to offer." Headmaster Cid explained. "Use Quistis, she's good." Seifer replied. Like hell he was going to take on this crappy mission. "I would if I could Seifer, but Quistis is in the middle of taking her instructors licence, so she's out of the question." Cid frowned.

Although he was pretty desperate to get out of this mess, Seifer didn't dare to suggest Squall. There was no way he could just hand Squall a golden ticket to SeeD on a silver plate. "Xu then, she's practically overqualified for this one." He suggested as a last attempt to sneak away from the dullest SeeD Field Exam ever. "She's still trying to smooth things over with our clients in Dollet, after that incident things took a rather… unfortunate turn over there." The headmaster coughed.

Later that evening, Seifer sat in his bed looking over the papers describing his mission. The target that he was supposed to protect was a skinny, dark haired girl named Rinoa Heartilly. She was the only child of a general Caraway, who was commanding the Galbadian forces in Timber, a little shit-hole that Galbadia had taken by force some 13-17 years ago. The general had made a few smart career moves during his time in Timber, though as a consequence, the Timber residence had started to hate his guts. The various rebel forces had been gathering around, joining forces and plotting a way to get the "good" general out of the way.

Apparently, this girl, Rinoa, was the key to the whole ordeal. At least, that's what Intel suggested. Protect the girl until things cool off, time window was approximately 2-3 months. Great, at least it wouldn't be a freaking 5 year-old who would be too scared to watch cartoons on the TV. Then again, even though this Rinoa was roughly at his own age, she could be the biggest bitch in the world for all Seifer knew. What bugged Seifer the most was that this was a general. He must have dozen of troops right at his fingertips. Why drag a SeeD into it all? Maybe he had too much gil on his hands? Not very likely, as gil was something you never could get enough of.

A polite knock on the door brought Seifer out of his thoughts and back to reality. What a drag, he thought as he got out of bed and opened the door. Fujin and Raijin stood on the other side of the doorway. "What's up guys? Curfew is kicking in soon. If the staffers catch you in the boys dorm after curfew, you'd be disciplined Fujin." Seifer sniffled a yawn as he spoke. "Go on, tell him y'know what." Raijin gently shoved Fujin a step forward. Seifer raised his eyebrows with interest. "G-GOOD LUCK." Fujin said with a quick bow before turning on her heel and dashing out of the room. "Yeah, good luck Seifer. You show 'em who's the boss, y'know." Raijin gave him thumbs up before leaving. "For Hyne's sake…" Seifer grumbled to himself before closing the door.

Breakfast was the same as usual, dull, sleepy and rather uneventful. Of course Seifer had to get up 2 hours earlier than normal in order to catch the right train. The cafeteria was huge, dark and gloomy looking so early in the morning. A single candle burned on his table and aside from the chatter from the kitchen, there was just the dead silence that can only be found in the few hours before sunrise. Dr. Kadowaki dropped by after a while, just making sure that Seifer had a fresh supply of potions and giving him some encouragement about giving it his best. Yeah, sure, whatever floats your boat. Seifer just hoped that boredom wasn't lethal.

In the garage, janitors were bringing in new supplies of weapons, items and ammunition. Seifer glanced at his watch. 04:15 it said. While he was waiting for the car to pick him up, Squall came walking in, his clothes a total mess. "Where have you been? Chasing girls?" Seifer asked as he passed him. "…not really." Squall replied, scratching the back of his head. "Don't tell me you pulled an all-night'er and trained on your own outside Garden, again?" Seifer asked, grabbing a hold of Squall's right arm and holding him back. "What if I did?" Squall mumbled. "You're good Squall, very good. But as long as I'm around, you'll always be second best, see?" Seifer smirked at him, his face illuminated by car front lights. "Your ride is here…" Squall grunted as he nudged himself free from Seifer's hold.

Seifer looked bored as some SeeD he'd never seen before drove him to Balamb train station. 3 months he thought, 3 freaking months if not even more. He, a gunblade specialist, Balamb Garden's #1 student, only matched by Squall's own talent and skill, would be baby-sitting some general's brat. The world was spinning towards the surreal as far as Seifer was concerned. "Well then, best of luck." The SeeD said, trying to sound cheerful. "Shut it, it's not like I'm going to need luck on a blue milk run like this." He snapped back at the SeeD. Throwing his bag over his shoulder and carrying the gunblade case in his left hand, Seifer climbed the stairs to the train station.

The train cabin wasn't all that bad. At least that was something, though Seifer was pretty convinced that it would go downhill from here. As soon as he could, he'd like a word or two with this Caraway character. He better have one hell of a reason to hire an elite SeeD such as himself to do a shitty job like this one. Then again, this was an exam. He would be evaluated and he had already failed several exams before. Lying down on the sofa, Seifer closed his eyes. It was going to be quite a trip all the way to Timber, so he might as well get some shuteye time. THAT exam he thought as his mind faded into a sleep filled with dreams and memories from the past.

It was in Dollet, autumn and raining badly. A whole pack of VIP's would gather at some conference and it had fallen down on SeeD to stand for security. Greedy trading corporations and slimy politicians gathered under one roof was a temptation certain terrorist cells just couldn't resist. The nature of the conference was confidential, not even headmaster Cid knew what it was all about, only that it was vital that nothing bad happened. It was one of those few coordinated Field Exams where members from all Gardens were present.

Seifer had been given the roof of a nearby building to guard. Late at night, soaking wet, tired and hungry, Seifer had stood his post. A few SeeD candidates not taking the exam were also present. They would mainly observe since the three headmasters were confident that so many SeeD's and SeeD candidates in one place, would scare off most attackers. One of these SeeD candidates was Fujin. Back then, her speech had been normal and she'd joined SeeD along with her life long friend Raijin.

The sounds were blurred with an echo feeling and the images half lost in the fog of dreams as Seifer's mind replayed the incident second for second, far to life like for comfort. The door, the dark brown wooden door that opened and the timid looking silhouette that stood in the doorway. Cold drops of rain dripped of from his nose, tiny rivers of cutting coldness floating around on his face, down his neck and on the inside of his already soaked clothes.

The silhouette hesitated for a moment, but decided to step into the rain. As the lights from the streets below illuminated the silhouette, it became clear that it was Fujin. She was holding a thermos in her hands, close to her body. "Sure is a rainy night, huh?" She said, raising her voice a bit so it could be heard over the winds. "You're quite good at stating the obvious." Seifer had replied. "I brought some hot soup for you." She said with a small smile and handed him the thermos. "Instructors orders." She quickly added as if hiding her own embarrassment. "…thanks." Seifer smiled back as he put down his gunblade and took the thermos.

Steam floated from the cup and danced a violent dance in the air before disappearing into the night. "How long have you been up here?" She asked him after a pause filled with sounds of heavy rain. "I have no idea. 5 hours?" Seifer shrugged while blowing at his soup to cool it off a bit. "And no break?" Fujin asked in amazement. Seifer shook his head while drinking carefully from his cup. Silence followed.

Seifer tossed his head about on the sofa, he was sweating a little and waved his arms about recklessly. Why did he do it? Why did he say it? Why on earth was she so kind to him? Why was he the bastard to take advantaged of her kindness? She was just a kid!

The thermos was empty and Seifer let out a small burp before screwing the cup back on top of the thermos. "Thanks Fujin, that was a life saver." He has as he handed it over to her. "No problem, though I think you should change clothes or at the very least get a raincoat. You'll catch your death in those soaked rags." Fujin gently pointed out while poking Seifer's drenched clothing. "Nothing's going to happen tonight at any rate and you do have a point." Seifer mused to himself. "Listen Fujin, could you just hold the fort for a few moments? I'll be back in a few minutes." He asked her. "Isn't that against orders? Shouldn't you ask another exam participation?" Fujin asked with a puzzled expression. "If 120 SeeD's isn't scaring them away, then this shitty weather sure will." Seifer joked. Fujin giggled and nodded her agreement. "Be quick though." She warned him jokingly.

Downstairs, Seifer slipped into the bathroom and changed clothes. He also found an unused raincoat in a hallway closet. If the instructors find out, I'll just loose a few points, but they'll probably cut me some slack considering my skill level, he thought to himself. He was about to get back to the roof, when he suddenly remembered that he'd left his gunblade in the bathroom along with his drenched clothes. Picking it up and checking the clip installed, Seifer thought he heard a small thud like sound. It sounded like it came from above. Strange, there weren't any floors above this one, meaning that the thudding sound must have come from… the roof!

The dream froze and then shattered. Seifer shot out of the sofa, soaked in sweat and panting heavily. Where was he? The train, to Timber, another Field Exam, he began to remember now. Calming down wasn't easy, his knees were trembling and guilt was wrapping around his heart like a fishing net made of razor sharp wire. At least that won't happen again, not on this mission. Goddamn blue milk run, he grumbled to himself before collecting his things and leaving the cabin.

Timber train station was big and open compared to the one in Balamb. A lot of train lines, many of them multi-continental, were connected through this little town. So small, yet so important, all thanks to that the huge bridge that connected Galbadia, Fisherman's Horizon and Esthar was no longer in operation. Overall, it was a miracle that the thing managed to stay intact throughout the Sorceress War. Well, Seifer could reflect over history some other day, right now he had a 3-month long Field Exam to beat. The thought alone made him groan.

"Mr Almasy?" A male's voice asked from behind. "Who's asking?" Seifer replied, only half turning. "I'm private Wedge, general Caraway sent me." The Galbadian solider introduced himself. What's with the crappy looking uniform, do they pay extra to make you wear it? Seifer thought to himself, but said nothing. "This way please." Wedge said, gesturing towards a car parked at the feet of the platform stairs.

It wasn't much of a drive, since Timber is a small town, but Seifer was grateful that he didn't have to drag his luggage half across town. It didn't take long before Seifer stood in front of the local Galbadian HQ. Although the building itself looked rather new, the surrounding fence looked… well used to say the least. "Right this way Mr Almasy, the general is anxious to meet you." Wedge led the way through the gates and into an office that appeared to belong to the general's secretary. "Please inform the general that Mr Almasy is here." Wedge said to the lady behind the desk. "Sir?" She buzzed the general from a small device located at the corner of her desk. "What is it?" A man's voice grumbled. "Private Wedge is here with a certain Mr Almasy." The secretary said. "About time, please send in Mr Almasy." The man replied.

The double doors opened and a nervous looking Wedge excused himself, assuring Seifer that he'd take good care of his luggage. "Don't be a stranger Mr Almasy, please do come in." A middle-aged man greeted him from behind his desk. He wore a richly decorated Galbadian uniform, his hair was black with hints of grey in it and he wore the face of a warrior. "General." Seifer nodded briefly his greeting.

"I'm not quite sure how much your headmaster told you about this mission, Mr Almasy." General Caraway began. "I'm to look after your daughters safety for the next 2-3 months. You've made yourself a little collection of enemies in Timber. They want to get to you through her, I'm here to prevent that from happening." Seifer summarized the mission briefing like a tape recorder.

General Caraway rose from his chair and walked over to a mini bar. He picked up the bottle and poured himself a drink, before he cast a glance at Seifer as if asking if he'd like one as well. Seifer raised his hand and quietly shook his head. No drinking on duty he reminded himself. "You're quite right Mr Almasy, however you don't know the full extent of the story. I feel it is important that you know the whole story in order for you to protect Rinoa as best you can." Caraway sat down on the edge of his desk and gestured to Seifer to take a seat.

He sank into a chair, collecting his thoughts. "Why wasn't I told the full story to begin with?" Seifer asked. "I don't know. Headmaster Cid is a very professional man, so I assume that he wanted to keep this as business like as possible since you have a record of being too emotional." Caraway drank a mouthful and allowed his words to sink in before carrying on.

Seifer bit his lower lip. That one incident is probably going to haunt him for the rest of his career. On the other hand, this was a golden chance to set things right. "Why SeeD? You're a general, it shouldn't be much of a problem to get some of your thugs to hold your daughters hand." Seifer asked. "You've backbone Mr Almasy. It's not like SeeD to question the decisions of the client is there?" Caraway smirked. Shit, he had a point. This wasn't going the right direction, was it? Stick to the book, Seifer thought. "The reason is two sided. First of all, these rebel forces in Timber know the Galbadian forces like the back of their hands. The only reason why we keep control is because we outnumber them with both manpower and resources." The general explained, putting his drink aside.

A silence followed. Seifer leaned forward in his chair, nodding his head slightly both to show the general that he understood and that he should carry on with his explanation. "The other reason is that my daughter is very… free spirited, much like her mother. I could of course either assign a whole platoon to guard her or simply just lock her up in this HQ 24/7, but she would hate it more than anything. As a parent, I have to take my daughter's feelings and well being into consideration." Caraway carefully explained, crossing his arms over his chest. "Hence you wanted only one SeeD, but one highly skilled." Seifer concluded. "That is correct. Once I made it clear that I'd rather have quality than quantity, headmaster Cid recommended you right away." Caraway said.

The intercom on the desk buzzed into life. "Oh? Please excuse me for a moment." General Caraway said. "Yes?" He pressed down the talkback button on the intercom. "Sir, your daughter is here to see you." The secretary replied through the intercom. "Ah, perfect timing. Please send her in." Caraway smiled. The double doors opened and a young girl entered. She was roughly speaking 5'3" tall, black shoulder long hair, big brown eyes and a rather cute and round dolly looking face.

A little poor in the breast department perhaps, but Seifer wasn't here to chase skirts, so it didn't really matter. "Rinoa, I want you to meet Seifer Almasy, he'll be your bodyguard for the summer." Caraway did a short introduction. Rinoa eyed Seifer from head to toe, before sending her father a cold stare. "I thought we agreed on a female bodyguard." She said with a hard voice. "Beggar's can't be choosers my dear." General Caraway actually sounded like he was apologizing to her. "Don't dear me…" Rinoa sniffed before leaving.

Seifer rose from his chair and after bidding the general goodbye; followed her. "Hey, wait up!" He shouted after her once they were in the hallway. "What?" Rinoa grunted. Oh shit, don't tell me she's a bitch after all, Seifer mentally groaned. "I'm coming with you." He patiently explained. "I'm just going home, so no worries. I'm not helpless." Rinoa mumbled. "Look, if you've got a father complex, fine. However, it is my job to make sure nothing happens to you, so whatever issues you have with daddy, throw it at him, not at me." Seifer tapped his pointing finger at her chest a couple of times to make his point clear. "I don't care about you, you're just another lap dog of his." Rinoa didn't even flinch and had the circumstances been different, Hyne help him, Seifer would have slapped her far into next week.

The two of them spent the rest of noon to go a little window shopping, watching people at the train station and feeding stray cats with leftovers from lunch. The whole time, Rinoa showed coldness towards Seifer that just drove him up the walls. Who the hell does she think she is! If she starts playing smart-ass and talk back to me, I'll spank her, Field Exam or no Field Exam!

When Rinoa "accidentally" closed the front gate to her garden fence in Seifer's face, thus crushing his foot, Seifer reached his boiling point and blew his fuses. "What the hell was that for? That hurt damn it!" He barked out loud, violently grabbing her shoulder and turning her around so that they faced each other. "It was an accident." Rinoa said as if it explained everything. "Accident my ass, even a dork like Zell could tell that was done on purpose!" Seifer snapped back, feeling his anger rising. "Who's Zell?" She asked. "The biggest moron in a pair of shoes. Male moron that is, I think you're a bigger ass than he is." Seifer grunted, calming down just a tad as he spoke. "You're no different from those Galbadian troops stationed here." Rinoa sighed with disappointment.

Seifer felt like he was loosing what little anger management he had. What was riding this bitch anyway? "I'm not a Galbadian thug, don't you dare compare me to those half-hearted, wanna-be soldiers. I'm a SeeD, there's a world of difference." Seifer said with clenched teeth. "Spare me the whole SeeD business. It is no secret that the Galbadian army recruits straight from Galbadia Garden." Rinoa replied, her voice also rising with anger. "NEWSFLASH! I'm not from Galbadia Garden, I'm from Balamb Garden." Seifer was just a few inches from slapping Rinoa flat in the face.

Rinoa froze solid, as if she had just received the most shocking news in her life. "What? If you keep gaping like that, Chocobo's will start building a nest on your tongue." Seifer grunted, not the slightest impressed by Rinoa's state of shock. "You're from Balamb…? Not Galbadia?" She asked with a weak voice, as if she just had to make sure it was true. "Yeah, that's what I said." Seifer grunted, still pissed 'cause of the whole fence gate episode. "Seriously?" Rinoa asked, now her voice was trembling. "What part of 'yes' don't you get? The first, second or third letter?" Seifer was about to loose his temper once again. Not only was she rude, she was dense as well.

The whole scene changed atmosphere in less than a heartbeat. Suddenly Seifer found himself with Rinoa clinging around his neck, hugging him warmly and sobbing into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know… I didn't mean to be so cruel… I'm so sorry." She kept on saying this while clinging to Seifer as if her life depended on it. "OI! What's gotten into you all of a sudden!" Seifer tired to get Rinoa to let go, but that only resulted in her tightening her grip.

After what seemed to be like a life time and a half, Rinoa finally calmed down. "Come inside please. I'll tend to your injured foot." Rinoa said, holding Seifer's hand and guiding him inside the house. "Hey, hey… slow down. What's with the changed attitude?" Seifer just tagged a long, limping slightly with his right foot.

Well inside the house, Rinoa had Seifer sit in the living room while she went for a first aid kit in the bathroom. Women, Seifer thought. She must be on her period or something. Fujin went through the roof once a month too, when he thought about it. "Here we go." Rinoa said as she sat down on a little stool with a first aid kit in her lap. "Look, just what the heck are you up to?" Seifer asked as Rinoa removed his shoe, revealing that his big toe was sticking out from his sock. "You need a new pair of socks I see. We better buy you some tomorrow." Rinoa said, humming softly to herself as she gently removed the sock to closer examine his bruised foot.

"Are you listening to me? I'm not a baby, besides, I'm the one that's suppose to look after you, not the other way around." Seifer waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention. "It's just a light bruise. Just don't walk too much, don't wear those tight shoes of yours and you'll be fine by tomorrow." Rinoa sighed with relief. "Listen doll face, tell me what's going on with you rather than with me." Seifer said, leaning forward in his chair.

Rinoa's face frowned into a sad expression. "Just as you said… I've a father complex. I don't like him, in fact I recent him so much I hardly look at him as my father anymore." She explained. "When we first got here, things weren't all that bad. We didn't talk much, we never did after mother died, but somehow we were a family." Rinoa put away the first aid kit and brushed her hair backwards, resting it behind her ears. "Over time however, I learned more and more about this place and its history. More over, there was the local news. Almost every news broadcast mentioned him."

Rinoa took a pause, as if gathering the courage to continue her story. "By him, I take it you're referring to your father." Seifer said. Rinoa just nodded her head slightly. "What he did brought prosper to Galbadia, but the price he paid so lightly was the well being and interests of Timber. I just couldn't…" Rinoa broke off, her voice trembling as a small tear leaked out from the corner of her eye.

The pieces fell into place. Although Rinoa despised her father, he still cared for her. He wanted just the best for her, by not only looking after her safety, but also take into account her own feelings. Not locking her up in a fortress, not followed by a platoon of armed thugs, or chaining her up to a person that represented the very things she'd grown to hate, but instead finding an alternative that would result in a win-win situation.

She was safe, her feelings and freedom remained intact and she wouldn't be forced to be with someone that she couldn't bare being with. Rinoa most likely saw all of this just as well as Seifer, if not even better. The fact that her father accepted her disgust with him, but that he still cared for her enough to do such a thing must leave her with mixed feelings.

Seifer took a moment to consider this new discovery, before he straightened himself in his chair and handed out his right hand. Rinoa looked at it then into his face, puzzled. "Let's start from the top again, shall we? Hello, I'm Seifer Almasy, I'll be your bodyguard this summer. I'm looking forward to working with you Ms Heartilly." Seifer smiled at her. It took a small moment for it to sink in, but Rinoa responded with a warm smile, took his hand and shook it. "Hello Mr Almasy, I'm pleased to meet you. Oh, and you can call me Rinoa, mind if I call you Seifer?" She said, still smiling that warm smile of hers.


	2. Still Here

The sound of busy feet coming down the stairway scared the silence that filled the living room away. General Caraway stopped at the feet of the staircase, glancing into the living room and noticed Seifer standing in front of the window, looking absentminded. "You're up early Mr Almasy." He noted as he buttoned up his shirt. "Couldn't sleep." Seifer replied, not turning. "You're not nervous about your assignment I hope." Caraway said. "Not at all, I'm on top of things." Seifer assured him. Caraway nodded in reply and just before he was about to go outside, he stopped and asked: "What does keep you from sleeping then?" Seifer made a face before he replied: "Bad dreams." Again, Caraway nodded his understanding before leaving.

A few hours later, faint sounds could be heard from the second floor. Rinoa was a real sleepyhead and it took more than 3-dozen alarm clocks to wake her up. Even out of bed, there was no guarantee that she wouldn't fall asleep in the bathroom or at the breakfast table. The maid made breakfast ready and soon Rinoa's pleading for five more minutes could be heard from the second floor. The maid argued that it was a beautiful day and that in order to make the most out of it, she should get up right away. More over, a cold breakfast wouldn't taste too well. Rinoa on the other hand, with a sleepy voice, argued that it was summer vacation and that she'd rather have a late lunch than an early breakfast.

"Honestly, she's just like her mother sometimes." The maid sighed as she came down from the second floor. "Sometimes is all the time." Seifer smirked to himself. After half an hour, the ever-sleepy Rinoa staggered into the kitchen and took a seat. She was quite remarkable sight; pink pyjamas with white sheep's for pattern, bright blue bunny slippers and the worst sleep hair in recorded history. Of course her eyes were just open by 1/10th and all her motions were done in ultra slow motion. "Uhm… Rinoa, your seat is the next one." Seifer kindly pointed out for her as she sat down on the wrong chair. "Huh? Oh… right." Rinoa mumbled, still half a sleep. "Are you always like this?" Seifer asked. "Huh? Hum… no, only during school vacation." Rinoa weakly chewed on her toast.

Around noon things picked up, Rinoa was more or less awake and starting to bubble with life and joy. "So were to princess?" Seifer asked her during lunch. "PICNIC!" She beamed at him. Rubbing his little finger in his ear, Seifer tried his best to regain his hearing. "Let's try to keep it somewhere public then." Seifer suggested. "But of course, we can't have you take advantage of me." She teased him. "Take…? What kind of magazines did you read last night anyway?" Seifer demanded as the two of them headed for the front door. "Tee-hee, s-e-c-r-e-t." Rinoa smiled at him.

In the park Rinoa found a good spot near a pond and the two of them settled down to eat. "So what's on the menu?" Seifer asked, peeping into the basket. "Today it's a Rinoa special-deluxe only menu!" Rinoa said with a hint of pride in her voice. "Uh-huh, that sounds interesting." Seifer replied. "Here you go, cheese, ham and butter sandwich." Rinoa handed him a slice. Seifer took a bite and chewed it for a while before he realized that Rinoa was a terrible cook. Even Squall could make better than this stuff (and he only made instant noodles should he miss a meal in the cafeteria).

Talking with food in your mouth is both rude and silly, as it makes it hard for others to understand what you're yapping about. "Mmmm? Thirsty?" Rinoa asked with a smile. Seifer nodded eagerly. "Here you go, homemade juice." She handed him a glass with a suspicious looking liquid inside it. What in Hyne's name was this? It looked like car oil and gas mixed together and watered out. Well, he'd gone this far so he might as well take a sip, Seifer thought. The moment his gustatory nerves identified the liquid, Seifer regretted that he didn't junction poison to status defence. "Yummy?" Rinoa asked innocently.

Seifer swallowed as much and as often as his stomach could tolerate. Even though he made it through round one, he doubted he'd live through round two. "Rinoa? HI!" A girls voice from down on the bike track became Seifer's rescuing angel. "Regina? Oh my god! It's been ages!" Rinoa quickly got on her feet and greeted her friend with a hug. A small bird landed on the picnic basket and looked at Seifer with a tilted head. "What? I'm not eating any more of that biohazard stuff, no matter how cute and fluffy you are." He pouted at the bird.

"Say Rinoa, who's your friend…?" Regina glanced over her shoulder and suddenly took interest in Seifer. "He's… a pen friend from Balamb." Rinoa said with a nervous smile. "Pen friend, huh?" Regina wasn't totally convinced and seemed to enjoy giving Rinoa a hard time. "Honest!" Rinoa fidgeted around with her hands. "Is it usual to take your pen friend out on a date…?" Regina asked her. "We're just friends…" Rinoa said with a blushed face. 3 more months, Seifer mentally groaned.

After a little chitchat, Regina finally left. "Do you want more?" Rinoa asked, offering Seifer another sandwich. "Ah… no thanks, I'm full." Seifer replied. "After just one bite…?" Rinoa asked with a puzzled expression. In the corner of his eye Seifer noticed a couple rowing in a little boat in the pond. "Yeah, say want to try that?" He said, pointing at the couple in the boat. "What? Be a couple of lovers?" Rinoa winked her eye at him. "NO! I mean yes, no hang on for a second…" It was Seifer's turn to fidget around, much to Rinoa's amusement.

Shortly after finding the boathouse that rented out the boats, Seifer and Rinoa gave it a go. "So peaceful…" Rinoa sighed. Seifer on the other hand struggled to keep Rinoa's sandwich and juice in his stomach as the slightly swaying boat was disturbing the balance of things. "Say, tell me about SeeD and Garden." Rinoa said. "Well… the Garden is located a good hour's walk from Balamb town. It's huge, the largest of the three Gardens, though very homey and cosy despite its size." Seifer began, still rowing.

"In the centre there's the main hall and from there it branches out to other sections, such as infirmary, cafeteria, quad, library etc. However, the biggest room is without a doubt the ballroom." He carried on, describing the building that he'd call home. "But why have a ballroom? I mean, it's a military academy right?" Rinoa asked. "True, but we need to keep a public image towards potential clients. So from time to time we arrange parties, quite formal mind you. It is also used to celebrate when a class has passed the Field Exam and become fully fledged SeeD's." Seifer carefully explained.

On the way home, the sun was already burning orange colours in the lower half of the sky, and Seifer still talking about SeeD and their Gardens. "Huuuh… so Balamb is the only one using para-magic?" Rinoa asked. "Not really, the other Gardens use it too, but we're the only ones that specializes in use of Guardian Forces. Galbadia Garden on the other hand relies more on technical gadgets and war machines than GF's." Seifer replied, opening the gate for her as he spoke.

"Are you a SeeD?" She asked him rather directly. "No, not yet. I've yet to pass my Field Exam." Seifer admitted honestly. "Then what low level GF did you confront as your… what did you call it?" Rinoa asked. "Para-magic battle test." Seifer supplied before continuing. "I fought and defeated Quezacotl, a spirit that governs lightning." Rinoa blinked at him. "Wow, that's a tongue twister." She giggled. "So you didn't go into the Fire Cavern?" She asked questions like a little girl at the first day at school. Answer one and 5 more pop up right afterwards. "No, the Fire Cavern was too unstable at that time, so other Guardian Forces were set up as test subjects when I took that test." Seifer said as he took of his coat.

The house was dark and silent, perhaps a bit too silent for comfort. Rinoa fell silent as soon as she noticed Seifer's serious expression. "What is it?" She asked in a whisper. Seifer just put a finger to his lips signalling her to keep quiet. "Stay close." He said as he took a firm grip around her wrist and walked quietly into the house. Aside from the bright orange light from the sun, the house was in total darkness. There were no indications of struggle or forced entry as far as he could tell. Then again, he hadn't checked the back door or the second floor windows yet.

After going through all the rooms on the first floor, Seifer decided to explore the second floor. With his gunblade at ready, he and Rinoa climbed the stairway on cat's feet. The second floor hallway was just as it had been this morning. At a second glance Seifer noted that the door to Rinoa's room was slightly ajar and a streak of orange light peeked through the crack. "If something happens, run to your fathers office and tell him what's going on." Seifer whispered before letting go of Rinoa's wrist and sneaking closer to the door.

Seifer planted his hand gently on the door, took a breather and pushed it open with a bang. His eyes swept from side to side, up and finally they landed at the floor. The room was in a total mess, the window broken, glass on the floor and the maid was lying unconscious on the floor. Seifer walked carefully over to the maid and checked for a pulse. She was dead and had been so for quite some time.

Despite wearing gloves, Seifer felt the coldness from the body. "Seifer…?" Rinoa called his name nervously from the hallway. "It's okay Rinoa, no one's here. Where's the phone?" He asked her as he came out from the room. "Eh? Downstairs by the refrigerator, but who are you going to call? If everything's okay…" Rinoa tagged along like a lost puppy. "Your room has been ransacked and the maid is dead. I need to call the morgue and your father." Seifer replied over his shoulder.

Rinoa froze in her tracks. "Jennifer is… dead…?" She whispered in a trembling voice. "Yup, cold as ice-cream." Seifer confirmed it as if it was a daily thing. "Jennifer… NO! JENNIFER!" Rinoa spun on her heels and was about to dash up the stairs again when Seifer grabbed her around the waist and carried her downstairs with ease.

"NO! LET ME GO! JENNIFER! NO, NO, NO! LET ME GO! SHE CAN'T BE…!" Rinoa cracked into a state of shock, denial and hysteria. "Pipe down, you can't help her now. She's already been dead for hours. You'll just compromise the crime scene if you go in there now." Seifer barked as he carried Rinoa over his left shoulder. Rinoa broke into tears at that point, wailing and sobbing like there was no tomorrow. At least she was too busy crying her heart out to be doing anything rash.

Seifer put her down at the kitchen bench and dialled general Caraway's office. "General Caraway please, it's Seifer Almasy. Tell him it's urgent." Seifer said as soon as the receptionist answered the phone. "Mr Almasy, what is the meaning of this?" Caraway grumbled in the other end of the phone. "Sir, there has been an attempt to kidnap your daughter in your house. Thankfully she was with me in the park when it happened, though her room has been turned inside-out during what looks like a ransack and whoever did this killed the maid." The report was fast, accurate and direct. All calls in and out of the Galbadian HQ were recorded so Garden might review the tapes when evaluating Seifer's performance during his exam. Besides, Caraway was a general and he didn't hire Seifer to have a phone buddy.

The silence that followed made Seifer a little nervous and possible scenarios flickered through his mind. Was this a setup? Could it be possible that the good father wasn't all that good and loving after all? Not unthinkable, but then again Caraway was a war veteran from the Sorceress War, so it would take more than a simple broken entry and a dead maid to shake his bones. "Very well Mr Almasy. I'll make arrangements to pick up the body, repairs and securing evidence from the crime scene. You'll fill in the officer in charge with what you know and stay put with Rinoa. You're not to leave the house, unless extremely necessary. Understood?" Caraway's voice was firm and determined.

"With all due respect sir, I must advice against this. The kidnappers might come back and they already know these premises…" Seifer tried to reason a little with the general, but realized all too late his error. "Do NOT question my instructions Mr Almasy, is that clear?" General Caraway snapped through the phone. "Like a bell, sir." Seifer replied dryly.

A bleeping sound with a steady rhythm told Seifer that the conversation was over. All he had to do now was sit tight and wait it out. At the end of the line, Caraway was more of a general than a father. "How's it going? You still with me over there?" He asked Rinoa who had buried her face in her arms, leaning over the kitchen counter. "What happens next…?" She asked, not raising her head. "Your father will make arrangements for Jennifer's body, secure evidence for the crime scene and…" Seifer began but Rinoa cut him off.

Her eyes were bloodshot red from all the crying, dried out rivers of tears were painted down her cheeks and sadness coloured her face. "I mean what happens to us?" She asked with a hoarse voice. "We're to remain here for the time being." Seifer said. "Here…? Are we safe here?" Rinoa seemed to be elsewhere mentally. "I'll make it safe." Seifer tired his best to assure her.

The house was soon filled with strangers. The local police force was kept out of it, as Caraway didn't trust them and at least a dozen Galbadian soldiers buzzed around like busy little ants. Seifer talked with the officer in charge, a certain major Biggs, plotting out the course of events, though he never let Rinoa out of his sight. She just sat in a chair in the living room, wrapped in a warm blanket, looking weakened and miserable. After roughly speaking 3 hours, the soldiers packed up and left, leaving the house bigger and emptier than ever before.

Rinoa still sat in the same chair, looking absentminded as she stared lifelessly out the window. Seifer on the other hand, quietly walked around the house, securing the perimeter the best he could. Doors to unnecessary rooms were locked, curtains drawn closed in all the windows and all the lights were left on. "Wouldn't it be better to leave the house in darkness?" Rinoa asked in a small voice. "No, lights in one room with the rest of the house dark will attract them to that room. As long as they don't see our shadows, we'll be harder to spot by keeping all the lights on." Seifer explained calmly.

"He's not coming home, is he?" She asked after a pause. She's probably talking about her father, Seifer thought to himself. "No, it doesn't look like it. He'll probably work all night long trying to find out who did this." Seifer sighed as he closed the final curtains, blocking Rinoa's view. "What kind of parent abandons his only child in the time of need?" Rinoa asked herself. "Heh… well, at least you have a parent. I don't." He told her as he took a seat, resting his gunblade in his lap.

Rinoa snuggled closer to Seifer and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders tighter. "You're an orphan?" She asked quietly. Seifer gently put his arm around her trembling shoulders and nodded quietly. "I don't have much of a memory from my parents." He admitted. "Mmmm…" Rinoa replied sleepy sounding.

"You should try and get some sleep." Seifer said, rubbing her shoulder. "How can I sleep here? The spell is broken…" Rinoa said, still sounding dead tired. "Spell? What spell?" Seifer asked her with a baffled look. "Every home that's filled with love has a spell. You wouldn't know, because you're an orphan." Rinoa quietly explained. "The spell says that this is safe, it is secure, the people in here loves you, wishes you no harm and fear has no dominion." She continued. "Home is sacred, if home is not safe, then what is?" Rinoa shivered and curled together even more.

Somehow, Seifer understood what she meant. Although it was a new home, home was home. She lived here with her father and the maid. Those things were enough to recast the spell on this structure, but now the spell was shattered. The window, although just a thin and fragile membrane, it was enough to make the room secure and homey.

The stuffed toy animals, drawings made at kindergarten, pretty green stones found on the beach and that ever-familiar pillow and bed. All of these things were scattered about, although not much was destroyed, they had been tainted. The beasts had been able to reach so far into her shelter, and that was enough. The maid, which had been acting like a mother figure for Rinoa since she was 5 and a half was now dead, but why? Probably because she heard a noise she shouldn't have, opened the wrong door at the wrong time. Seifer had found a pile of newly washed towels next to the body. She'd probably done the laundry and was on her way to the bathroom to change towels.

Seifer came out of his thoughts as he felt something wet on his arm. Looking down, he saw Rinoa crying silent tears, biting her lower lip to keep the sobs from escaping. Loosing a mother twice, no child deserved that Seifer thought to himself. His mind raced to think of a way to cheer Rinoa up. Both because she was the individual that he was suppose to protect, thus her well-being was more or less his responsibility, and that Seifer had begun to genuinely care for the girl.

After some thought, an idea presented itself inside Seifer's mind. Although it was a long shot, it couldn't hurt trying it. Seifer closed his eyes and concentrated as he'd been taught at Garden. After a few moments, another voice, weak at first, began to speak inside his mind. _"Quezacotl, I need you to lend me a hand."_ Seifer spoke out mentally. _"Of course master, I'm yours to command."_ Quezacotl replied in its majestic voice. "Rinoa, look… a fairy has come to watch over you in your sleep." Seifer said, nudging the tired and cried out Rinoa gently.

Rinoa weakly raised her head and looked into the fully illuminated living room. It was hard to spot at first, but it was there. A bird like creature, not larger than a grown mans hand hovered in mid air, just above the lamp that Seifer had put on the floor. Its graceful movements fascinated Rinoa and her eyes began to shine again.

Seifer let her slip slowly out of his arm as she crawled on all fours over to Quezacotl's semi transparent image. She reached out to touch it carefully with her fingers, but they went straight through. Frowning a bit, she tired again, but the result was the same. Seifer chuckled a little to himself at the sight. "What's so funny?" Rinoa asked, looking over her shoulder. "He, he, he… see for yourself." Seifer sniggered while jerking his thumb towards the mirror. Pouting a little like a kid, Rinoa got on her feet and walked up to the mirror. "My hair!" She exclaimed while pointing at her reflection in astonishment. "Static electricity does that to you." Seifer laughed, slapping his knee in amusement.

Rinoa looked at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before taking a seat right in front of him. "Fix it." She said. "Oh, okay. You know, if you junction thunder based magic wrong, you get hair even worse than this?" Seifer said as he removed one of his gloves. "Fine, fine. Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, now get over with it or I'll tickle you so hard you'll die smiling." Rinoa grumbled. "Just hold still for a second." Seifer smiled and placed his finger in front of Rinoa's nose and closed in the distance little by little.

When they almost touched, a little spark flashed between Seifer's fingertip and Rinoa's nose, at the same time a little sparkling noise could be heard. "Owie! That hurt." Rinoa said, jerking backwards and quickly rubbing her nose. Seifer on the other hand had a hard time stop laughing.

A pillow flat in the face did muffle Seifer's laughter a little, but it still took him a good 15 minutes to calm down. "Get some sleep Rinoa. You've had a busy day. I'll make sure nothing happens." Seifer assured her sincerely. "You better keep your word buster." She said with a threatening pointy finger. Rinoa lied down and found a good position before falling sound asleep. Seifer wrapped her in a blanket and stroke her hair a few times before standing up to make his first round around the house.

The dream picked up from where it left off at the train cabin. Seifer had just heard a thudding sound from above, meaning that someone had made a rather heavy landing on the roof. Fujin was on that roof, unarmed and inexperienced. He didn't waste a second, not even to curse his own stupidity and arrogance. Several feet were dashing down the stairs that lead up to the roof. Seifer could make out three pair of feet. They would come through this building and set up a sniper position at the 16th floor on the eastern wall. It was an ideal spot to pop some heads inside the conference room in the building across the street.

Seifer let the first person pass the bathroom door and as the second was right at the door, he kicked it open. The door swung outwards in the hallway with great speed, knocking the second assassin off balance and into the arms of his buddy that was only a few steps behind. The first one halted to check what the noise was all about. Before he could react, Seifer was on top of him. The hallway was too narrow for gunblades, so he had to settle with naked fists.

Two quick punches, one right and one left hook sent the first assassin out cold. The two others had just managed to get back on their feet, when Seifer quickly drew and casted a thunder spell upon the assassin that was knocked down by the bathroom door. The assassin shrieked in pain before falling lifeless to the floor.

The third assassin had more than shit for brains as he made a quick retreat up to the floor again. "Goddamn chicken-shit!" Seifer cursed and pulled out a combat knife from the second assassin's leg sheath. Holding it in the blade, Seifer threw it with a vertical boomerang effect straight in-between the shoulder blades of the third assassin. A faint groan escaped his lips before he landed face first in the stairway.

They were all dressed in black suits, covering every inch of their skin, no loose parts that would make noise when moving and they had high tech night vision goggles to boot. The first assassin had a sniper rifle kit strapped to his back. The book required him to call in the episode, but Fujin might still be in danger. First things first, Seifer thought to himself and he dashed with all possible speed up the stairs to the roof.

Pillars of pale white light floated over the roof. A stealth helicopter maybe? These guys were more organized than Seifer expected. He had to thread lightly. Fujin stood there, at the edge of the roof, trembling with both cold and fear. The fourth assassin stood right behind her, his left arm locked around her chest and in his right hand he held a combat knife.

The sound of loud heartbeats began to dominate the sound image of this constantly reappearing dream. Seifer let his Hyperion gunblade rest at his side. He stood there, calm as ice, determination shaped his face and fury glowed in his eyes. Rivers of rain rushed down across the gunblade's surface and outlined the curves of his blade. The seconds ticked by, Seifer not moving a muscle and the assassin, mute and just as determined made no move either.

Clenching his grip around the pistol shaft even further, Seifer let out a small sigh. His breath appeared as a pale grey cloud before fading away into nothing. "Let her go…" He said. The assassin tilted his head and then tightened his grip around Fujin.

By now, the heartbeats were both deafening and going at a wild stampede. Just as Seifer thought his heart would explode, it stopped as he witnessed the cruellest act his young eyes had ever seen. The knife, its cold edge made its way closer and closer to Fujin's eye. She struggled, but her weak frame was no match for the assassin. A grown and well-trained man against a teenager speaks for itself. Fujin screamed, pleading to make him stop, but the cold wet edge of the knife soon got coloured with small red rivers of blood.

It snapped for Seifer. Anger of untold dimensions exploded within and he dashed forward, screaming like some wild beast, gunblade raised and ready to strike. The partially flooded roof exploded for each step Seifer took. His own screams of rage drowned Fujin's screams of agony and time seemed to stand still.

The assassin, still looking calm, lifted Fujin up over his head. The bastard is going to use her as a shield! Seifer kept his gunblade high over his head until the very last moment. Without the slightest warning, he ducked and made a slash for the knees. The legs were cut straight off from the rest of the body, making a clean cut. A scream followed, a hollow cry in pain. Blood flooded freely from the huge wounds as if thanking Seifer from freeing it and the legs that were cut off, dropped to the ground like lifeless objects of flesh, bone and blood.

Seifer looked up, smirking with a sadistic satisfaction, but the smile would not last for long. Seifer's victory was bittersweet, as the assassin quite naturally lost his footing and tipped backwards. In the massive agony he found himself in, he threw Fujin away and reached down to his wounds with trembling hands. Fujin, again screaming and pleading for her life, fell down and out of view.

The assassin twisted in agony and pain on the flooded rooftop, screaming so loud that he was already beginning to loose his voice. "YOU SICK FUCK! SHE WAS JUST A KID DAMNIT!" Seifer found his fury burning anew as he fell on his knees on top of the screaming assassin and shook him around violently.

He held the assassins face close to his own. "Please… I'm dying…" He pleaded weakly, his hands covered with blood. "YEAH? Well, die screaming you disgusting piece of…!" Seifer couldn't find the words. He just started hitting the assassin in the face, repeatedly. The night vision goggles hurt like hell, but Seifer's hand had already grown num and without feeling. They shattered, screws, pieces of glass, wires and tiny circuits flew through the air. The assassin's eyes were dead, either from Seifer's beating or he'd just pasted out cold due to the pain.

Seifer wanted to scream, but his voice got piled up deep inside his throat. He wanted to cry, but no tears would flow. He wanted to die, but he was still amongst the living. He sat there, on his knees, a dead assassin between his legs, staring lifelessly up at the sky, as if hoping that the rain would wash away his pain and purify him. He felt sanity leaking out of his mind, one drop at the time.

"SEIFER!" A voice, Fujin's voice it sounded like. "SEIFER!" It called him again. Seifer blinked. Fujin was still amongst the living? But she fell… she had no magic junctioned, hell she didn't even have a GF junctioned, so how…? Confused, Seifer looked around himself, scanning his surroundings. The roof was empty, even the stealth helicopter had left, its mission had ended in failure. Looking over the edge, Seifer saw Fujin, clinging desperately to a rain gutter pipe.

Thank Hyne! It wasn't a street Fujin had fallen into, but a narrow alleyway. Somehow, Hyne knows how, she'd managed to grab a hold on the rain gutter at the opposite building. Still, she was shocked, injured, scared and weak. She wouldn't be able to hold on for long. Again, there was no time to get help. Seifer scanned his junction setup in hope of finding something useful, but nothing proved its worth in this situation. He didn't even have Cure spells stocked, because he felt he didn't need it!

Seifer looked around over the edge of the building. There was a streetlight very close to Fujin, though it was at the opposite side of the street. "Fujin, try to grab a hold of the streetlight and just lower yourself to street level like a fireman!" Seifer shouted. "My hands hurt! I can't do it!" Fujin cried, sounding terrified. Seifer spat a few curses and tried to think. Fujin hadn't been in SeeD long enough to handle that kind of thing, both mentally and physically.

An idea came to his mind, it was risky but it was all Seifer's stressed out mind could come up with. "Fujin! I'll climb down on the streetlight. Then, you jump out towards me as much as you can. I'll grab you and swing you back on the roof, okay?" It was crazy and the odds weren't in their favour, but with his junction setup and Hyne willing, it could work. "Oh-okay…" Fujin nodded her understanding. "Trust me on this Fujin!" Seifer called out as he climbed down on the streetlight.

Seifer took a little moment to get into place, did some quick test measurements by stretching out his arm as far as he could and soon considered himself as ready as he'd ever be. "Okay Fujin, whenever you're ready!" Seifer shouted. Fujin's lower lip trembled with fear and cold, half her face bathed in blood from her cut out eye and she had her doubts if she would live to see the sunrise. They were both scared and neither of them made any attempt in hiding it.

Then the crucial moment came. Fujin pulled herself closer to the wall before kicking and pushing with her arms and legs with all her might. Her hands shot out like angry whips, desperately seeking Seifer's outstretched arm. Fujin was beginning to fall downward, panic flared in her eye and she was about to scream when the connection was finally made. Seifer's arm found her hands and the slapping sound of wet flesh colliding was the sweetest of sounds. Fujin's nails dug into Seifer's arm until blood began to flow, his face twisted with effort and pain. "Don't look down, look at me Fujin, all the time." Fujin did as she was told, trying her best to stay calm.

Now all that remained was the hard part. Before the momentum Fujin had started died out, Seifer began swinging her back and forth, making most out of what momentum that was left. Faster and faster, a wet swishing sound could be heard as Fujin swayed through the rain. Seifer saw that he'd gained as much speed as he dared and swung Fujin over the roofs edge and let go of her wrist. Fujin on the other hand, didn't let go. Her nails remained dogged into Seifer's skin, tearing shreds of skin with her as she slipped out of his grasp. At the end of his arm, she even tore off his watch before landing on the floor with a thud.

Seifer woke up to the smell of freshly made coffee. "Damn dream… get out." He mumbled, poking his head. Rinoa stood in the kitchen, tending to the coffee machine. "Oh, good morning Seifer." Rinoa greeted him. Seifer nodded and stretched out in a yawn. "Did you have a bad dream? You were tossing around in your sleep and sweating like a pig." Rinoa asked as she handed him a cup of coffee. "Yeah… a 2 year old nightmare." Seifer grumbled into his coffee cup. "Mind telling me about it?" Rinoa gently asked. "It's not a story that should be told at a time like this. Some other time perhaps." Seifer said, putting on a forced smile.


	3. Sinner & Saint

Time made a steady phase forward as days turned into weeks and weeks into months. The nasty incident at Rinoa's house was a faded memory of the past and the two of them had grown to be good friends. Since it wasn't an undercover mission, Seifer got mail from Fujin and Raijin at Garden every now and then. Although Seifer told Rinoa a lot about Garden and SeeD, he never ever mentioned Squall.

Despite that all was good and there had been no other attempts to get to Rinoa Seifer grew a little worried. This could mean that the attackers had lost their nerve or that they simply wanted to wait for the ideal time to strike. Silent before the storm, it's always darkest before sunrise and all that stuff.

In order to counter this possibility, Seifer tired his best to avoid falling into a pattern. This wasn't all that difficult, since Rinoa was a very spontaneous girl, though not all of her sudden ideas proved to be good. Seifer spent his nights training in order to keep his edge up, as it wasn't much exercise in tagging along with Rinoa's window shopping.

It was close to midnight when general Caraway came home from his office. Seifer stood in the living room, looking out the window and counting passing cars. "Evening general." Seifer nodded his greeting. "You're up late, is there a problem?" Caraway asked. "Not at all, just have a small problem falling asleep." Seifer assured him. "That dream again?" Caraway asked as he poured himself a drink and loosened up the top of his shirt. "You sound like you're talking from experience." Seifer replied, taking a seat across the general. "Indeed, we all have ghosts that haunt us." Caraway said his voice muffled a little from talking into his drink.

A car drove by, its front lights gliding from one side of the living room to the other. "Tell me yours, I'll tell you mine." Seifer said. "Hmm? Well, it was close to the end of the Sorceress War. Intelligence had gotten their hands on some vital information. For some reason, Sorceress Adel was mobilizing her entire royal guard and sent them off to all sorts of weird places." Caraway recalled, his eyes replaying the incident as he remembered it. "We didn't know why, but whatever it was, it was very important to Adel. If we could sabotage it, we might get the breakthrough we needed." He carried on, Seifer listening carefully to everything that was being said.

General Caraway put down his empty drink with a cold clanking sound. "It was when they were at sea, that we decided to confront them. This was decided since the Estharian royal guard was the best of the best. Gunblade specialists, skilled magic users and veteran warriors, every single one of them. Only the best of the royal guard is recruited as the Sorceress Knight, but that's a different story." Caraway continued his tale. "We were… 600 men, armed to our teeth with all the guns we could carry, they were 12 warriors, 1 crazy scientist with a weird accent and around 3 dozen little girls around 4-6 years old." The story had come to a pause.

Caraway played a little with his glass resting on the table. "It wasn't much of a fight. Our boys didn't get to shoot much before getting sliced and diced. Of the 600, only 5 made it out alive. The only reason we were allowed to live was that we were left for dead." Caraway rose from his chair and made himself another drink. "I remember one of the guards looking down on a friend of mine. He was in really bad shape and he pleaded for mercy, that the guard would kill him so that the pain would end." Turning, Caraway asked Seifer: "Do you know what the guard did in response?" Seifer shook his head. "He said: "Death is too good for you." That's the sickest thing I've ever heard in all my life." Caraway sighed with disgust. He bid Seifer a good night and they both headed for some hours sleep afterwards.

Again, the dream returned. Why was he tormenting himself with this vision time and time again? He was way over it, wasn't he? Maybe not, but isn't two years enough to forgive and forget? He was after all, only human. Humans do blunders every now and then, right? It's in our blood.

The rain was heavy, cold and wet as usual. Even the winds were picking up. Panting and moaning, Seifer struggled to climb back up on the roof. "Awh shit, I think I've dislocated my shoulder." He remembered complaining. His left hand was trembling; dark red lines marked where Fujin's nails had peeled off his skin and his watch was missing.

Fujin was lying just a few feet away from the edge, her back facing Seifer. He was about to call out her name when stomping feet caught his attention. SeeD's, 5 of them came rushing up the stairs. Their weapons were at ready and they efficiently got an overview of the situation. "Candidate, report!" One of the female SeeD's snapped at Seifer. It was one of the Ando twins, the prodigy SeeD's from Trabia Garden. Seifer was confused, why did he have to report?

Before Seifer could stumble up with a reply, one of the male SeeD's called out. "We've got a injured one here. Looks pretty bad, internal perhaps." He was crouching down next to Fujin, pointing a tiny flashlight in her face. The Ando twin spun around. "One of ours?" She demanded. "Yes and no. She's with Balamb, though only as an observer. Nothing junctioned." The male SeeD replied. The Ando twin turn around and faced Seifer slowly, her eyes burning with fury. "I say again candidate… Report!" She barked.

Seifer was still dumbstruck. Why was he suddenly the bad guy? He might not have followed the book to the letter, but no harm was done, right? "I went inside to get a change of clothes…" He began nervously. "YOU WHAT!" The other SeeD's turned their attention to Seifer as well. "You left your post to get a change of clothes? More over, you had another candidate, with no junction or weapons take your place?" Now the second Ando twin got involved as well. "It was only for 2 minutes!" Seifer protested. Like hell these bitches could just walk over him.

The Ando twins glanced at each other then at Seifer with dubious eyes. "Because of you the outer defence perimeter was breached. More over, since you didn't report in the incident, the rest of the SeeD's were unaware of this." The first Ando twin start listing up Seifer's blunders. "HEY! I took down three of them and went to check if there were others around, then I found Mr Sadistic Bastard over there who held Fujin hostage. In the middle of all this, I wonder why the hell I didn't make a phone call. Oh yeah, I was busy doing my J-O-B!" Seifer, although tired, still had energy to have a verbal fight.

The first Ando twin struck after Seifer in an arch-like motion with her right arm. She missed by a mile and a half. "What was that…? HEY! My junction!" Seifer suddenly noticed that her attack hadn't been a physical one, but rather aimed directly at his junction configuration, quite efficiently deleting it.

That was why the Ando twins were the very best Trabia Garden had to offer, they could alter other junction configurations as they saw fit. That was their power. "Seifer Almasy, I'm putting you in custody." The second Ando twin said in a harsh voice. "You've got to be kidding me! On what grounds?" Seifer demanded. "Treason." The two twins said in perfect union. "I didn't betray anyone!" Seifer insisted. "True you killed three of them, but the forth one made it and partially completed his objective because of your screw up."

At those words, Seifer remembered. He'd zapped one assassin to death with a thunder spell, the second one he'd thrown a knife at, while the third one lay dead on the roof, but the fourth… He'd just knocked him out and he was the one carrying the sniper rifle.

At breakfast, Seifer was calmer than usual and it made Rinoa worry. "5 gils for your thoughts." She said, sipping her coffee cup. "Hmm? Nah, it's nothing." Seifer mumbled before hiding behind the newspaper. "Well, you're awfully quiet over such a small thing then." Rinoa said, giving up in trying to get under his skin. "I didn't get much sleep last night, that's all." Seifer sighed from behind the newspaper. "Bad dreams again?" Rinoa sympathised. "You have no idea…" Seifer mumbled with a mouthful toast. "Of course I don't, because you won't tell me about it!" Rinoa actually slammed her palm in the table, causing cups and plates to rattle.

Slowly Seifer lowered the newspaper. "You want to know it that bad?" He asked carefully. "Yes, yes I do." Rinoa said sincerely. "When I had my first Field Exam, I failed miserably. I nearly got an innocent bystander killed because of my arrogance and overconfidence." Seifer said dryly. "Although I paid for my mistakes, the bystander forgave me and it all belongs to the past, it still comes to haunt me whenever something important comes up, like a Field Exam." He continued, folding the newspaper before slapping it on the table.

Rinoa thought for a moment before asking: "You said the bystander forgave you, Garden obviously forgave you since you're still a SeeD candidate and allowed to take Field Exams, but what about yourself?" Seifer blinked for a moment. What was she getting at? "I mean, it doesn't matter if all the kings and queens pat you on the head and shoulder, telling you it's okay, if you can't forgive yourself." Rinoa pointed out, gesturing with her arms as she spoke. "Are you giving me a psychoanalysis over the breakfast table Ms Heartilly?" Seifer mumbled, resting his chin in his hand and his elbow on the table.

She got up form her chair and walked around the table. Then, quite gently and with warm feelings, Rinoa hugged Seifer from behind. "It's not good for you to dwell to much on the past. You only die in the present if you do." Rinoa whispered in his ear before kissing his cheek lightly. "Is that so?" He replied. "Yes, that's what my mother told me." Rinoa confirmed.

Later, just past noon, Rinoa wanted to go shopping. "Why may I ask?" Seifer groaned, as he knew that the one that would do all the carrying would be him. "A friend of mine just had her first baby and I want to give her a little congratulation present." Rinoa beamed as the two of them walked out of the house. "Just don't buy the whole shop, even if you've got the budget for it." Seifer mumbled to himself.

They arrived at Timbers largest shopping centre and headed straight for the nearest baby shop. Rinoa happily talked with the shop clerk while Seifer kept an eye out for anything suspicious, though he really wanted to get out of the shop a.s.a.p. "It's a boy and he's got red hair. That one looks nice, but do you have matching socks?" Rinoa talked and talked as minutes ticked away. Will she ever finish, Seifer wondered.

Finally Rinoa settled with a set in bright blue with white bears for pattern, white socks and a matching blanket. "All done?" Seifer asked as she walked up to him, holding a bright green paper bag in her hand. "Just about, as soon as we've lunch we can go home." Rinoa smiled. "Cake I trust?" Seifer sighed. "Oh how kind of you to suggest that." Rinoa giggled and locked her arm in his.

It took some time, but they found Rinoa's favourite bakery and settled down to have a slice of cake each. Seifer didn't have much of an appetite, so he ended up just poking his cake around with his fork. Rinoa on the other hand happily scooped down her slice in a jiffy. "Excuse me, Ms Rinoa Heartilly?" A stranger asked her unexpectedly. "Uhm? Yes, that's me." Rinoa replied somewhat surprised. "There's a phone call for you." The stranger replied. "Oh? Thanks. I'll be right back Seifer." Rinoa told him as she got up. "Uhm… where is the phone?" She asked a little embarrassed. "In the back ma'am." The stranger answered.

Seifer kept on poking his cake a little more before it struck him. No one knew that they had gone out. Even if they knew that he and Rinoa had gone out, how did they know they were here, now? Caraway would call home then just leave a message or call Seifer on his cell phone should it be important. Seifer shot out of his chair and walked on hurried feet into the back. He found the phone, but no Rinoa.

The receiver hung by the cord, dangling around as if it had just been dropped. He picked it up and listened. "Well, well Mr Bodyguard. Guess you're a amateur after all." A digitally distorted voice chuckled in the other end. "Who are you and what do you want?" Seifer grunted, feeling his temper rising. "Tsk, tsk, tsk... asking questions you already know the answers to… who'd thought you're a SeeD. Oh that's right, you're not. You're just a SeeD Candidate." The voice sighed. "You're so dead that people will wonder why you were born in the first place." Seifer said with an effort to keep from shouting.

A pause followed and only sounds of someone being pushed around could be faintly heard in the background. "S-S-Seifer…?" It was Rinoa's voice, trembling and anxious. "Rinoa? Are you all right?" Seifer asked, trying to remain calm, though feeling a ton lighter in just hearing her voice. "There's… a knife. I'm scared." Rinoa was on the verge of tears.

Seifer looked around. The bakery chefs hardly took notice of him, but somehow the kidnappers had to be nearby. Were they in the backyard maybe? Nope, they were in the 3rd floor. It would take too long to get Rinoa down to the ground floor. Were they still mobile? Didn't sound like it, as he couldn't hear any walking feet in the background. They must be watching him, otherwise how could they tell who picked up the phone?

In the phone, Seifer could hear that Rinoa was shoved out of the way and the digitally distorted voice returned. "Now, the bitch is safe and sound. Lets talk business soldier boy." It snapped. "I'm listening." Seifer said, sounding calm. "You better. Tell general Caraway that he has 48 hours to arrange an assassination on president Vinzer Deling. Make sure that he takes all the heat from the fuzz that follows." The instructions were simple and straight to the point. Professionals no doubt Seifer concluded.

"Whack of the tyrant, get a scapegoat and liberate Timber. Killing three birds with one stone, clever. Once this is done, what will happen to the girl?" Seifer asked. "Don't know, don't care. How does that sound to you?" Before Seifer could talk back, the conversation ended with a dull sounding click.

Seifer hung up the phone calmly. He took a moment to just breathe deeply and trying to grasp the situation. Then, in a spontaneous outburst of rage he shoved the phone off the table and into the nearest wall with a loud bang. One of the oldest tricks in the book and he fell for it face first.

Make the threat real, bond guard and target together, make them relax and then… strike. He couldn't have done it better himself. Strictly speaking should he inform Caraway about this, both about his own failure and the kidnappers demands. From there they would come up with a counter plan.

One of the chefs began picking up the smashed phone when Seifer noticed something sticking out from his belt. A small wire of some sort? It went in under the chef's shirt and crawled upwards all the way up to his glasses.

Odd Seifer thought. Then he remembered from his Surveillance and Espionage subject 3 years ago. Tiny cameras could be implanted in glasses, giving a perfect 1st person perspective. Not to mention that there wasn't much suspicious about glasses at first glance, hence you could record a lot completely undisturbed. Galbadia Garden had used that trick for years.

As the pieces came together, Seifer recalled what Rinoa had told him the first day they met. _"Spare me the whole SeeD business. It is no secret that the Galbadian army recruits straight from Galbadia Garden."_ Could they be SeeD dropouts' maybe? That would explain their professional approach and technical equipment. Seifer felt confident enough to act, so he walked up to the chef and yanked him up.

The chef was taken completely off guard and his colleagues stopped doing their work as Seifer started to make quite a scene. "Where are they taking her?" Seifer barked straight into the startled chef's face. "Who's taking who…?" The chef stammered, looking ready to wet his pants any moment.

Seifer lifted him up a few inches extra and slammed his back against the wall a few times. "Don't toy with me you little shit! If you do insist on playing dumb, they won't be able to count body parts when I'm done with you!" Seifer's temper was climbing rapidly, just like back then.

Another chef headed out the door, probably to fetch security. Good, Seifer could use someone to beat into pools of protein waste in order to blow off some steam. "Rinoa Heartilly, daughter of general Caraway, the girl in the bright blue cape that talked in the fucking phone you just picked up!" Seifer had a thunder spell right at his fingertips, pale blue sparks danced and flickered between his fingers. "I-I-I-I don't know what you mean! I swear!" The chef desperately replied.

Seifer's patience went dry at that point, so he slammed his right palm flat in the chef's face, releasing the thunder spell as he did. "What about the camera glasses then! You just use them to record the pretty girls that buy your stupid cakes!" He screamed so that the chef heard him, despite his cries of pain. "I'm just a chef!" The chef broke down into tears, his left cheek suffering from a second-degree burn wound.

Security crashed through the doors, grabbed Seifer from behind and pulled him away from the terrified chef. What little anger management Seifer had left, flew out the window just then. He broke free from the first guards grasp and threw a frying pan filled with melted butter in the face of another. Shrieking in pain, the guard covered his face with his hands and staggered around in circles. Seifer planted a solid punch in his guts, knocking the winds out of him, causing the guard to collapse of the floor, gasping for air like a fish on land.

The first guard came at Seifer a second time, though this time armed with a baton. From under his coat, Seifer drew and sliced his gunblade at the guard. He didn't kill him, just made a clean cut through the baton and tiny cut across his forehead. "Do you want to go one more time or help your buddy?" Seifer mocked. The guard glanced nervously at what remained of his baton, then checked his forehead and saw a little blood on his hand. Without a word the guard threw away his baton and kneeled down to help his partner. "Wow… he can think." Seifer mumbled.

Seifer walked slowly over to the chef, whom had just sunk back like a bag of potato's after Seifer had let him go. Towering over the chef, Seifer used the tip of his gunblade to lift the chef's chin up so that their eyes met. He just raised his eyebrows, indicating that the chef better talk if he wanted to avoid further unpleasant experiences. "My niece… she's an optician. She… she gave me these glasses after my old ones broke a couple of days ago." The chef whimpered. "I'd like to make an appointment… where can I find her?" Seifer said with a dead cold tone of voice.

On the outside there had gathered quite a crowd, but Seifer didn't care. In fact he kind of liked it, to be bathed in gazes of amazement, admiration and fear. He just sheeted his gunblade, picked up Rinoa's shopping bag and left the scene. "HEY! You can't just walk away!" The second security guard, who had his face covered in melted butter called after him. "Sorry, I don't waste my time on vermin." Seifer half shouted over his shoulder.

Rose's optician store wasn't too far away from the old TV station in Timber. The whole block was practically deserted as the TV station was merely an icon from an era of radio waves. It had its time and now it was in decay. A little girl was giving milk to a street cat, but other than that the street was empty.

"Hey there." Seifer greeted the little girl as he walked up to her. "He-hello." The girl responded somewhat nervously. "I was wondering if you could do me a little favour?" Seifer asked, kneeling down for a moment. "Mommy doesn't want me to talk to strangers." The girl replied timidly. "That's a good rule, but I was wondering if you could just wait right here and look after this bag for me?" Seifer asked, handing her the bright green shopping bag. The girl glanced at the bag, then at Seifer and back again before nodding.

Seifer crossed the street and drew his gunblade as he walked. He was pissed and now it was payback time, big time. There was a young man standing behind the counter, nearly every piece of furniture was made out of glass. Shelves, tables, counter and there were a lot of mirrors scattered about to boot. "Good day sir. How can I be of assistance?" The man asked politely. Seifer didn't waste time, he threw a fireball at the man's face and planted 2 quick shots with his gunblade to shut up his screaming.

Muffled voices from the basement could be heard, followed by what sounded like 3-4 people scrambling away in a hurry. Seifer quickly kicked up the door to the backroom and froze for a fraction of a second as he stood face to face with a lady armed with a shotgun. Luckily she hesitated that one fatal second that gave Seifer all the edge he'd ever need. A quick stab with the gunblade both knocked the shotgun's barrel out of Seifer's way and disabled the enemy.

Behind the injured woman there was a spiral staircase leading down to the basement. Seifer quickly stepped over the groaning woman and rushed down the staircase. As soon as Seifer sat foot on the floor, the lights died out and a bright blue laser grid got turned on. A steady bleeping sound told Seifer that automated gun turrets'd gun him down if he didn't mind his step.

If they couldn't kill him, they wanted to delay him long enough for them to make their escape. Backtracking was no good as it would take him too long to find a way around the store and get his bearings from there. Still he didn't have the time to tiptoe his way through this blasted grid, nor could he take out the turrets from afar since it was pitch black in the room.

Seifer spat a few curses and cast a protect spell on himself. It would hurt, but if he moved fast enough, he should be able to keep up the pace and hunt down the kidnappers. As soon as he crossed the first line, the turrets began spitting out led at a rapid pace.

The protect spell blocked some bullets completely, others had their course seriously altered, while a few made a clean cut and hit Seifer. Thankfully they only hit in less vital areas, though he had to do something about his wounds as soon as he was on the outside or he'd be moving too slow to catch the scumbags that had taken Rinoa.

Crashing through the basement door and out of the turrets field of fire, Seifer didn't have time to take a breather, no matter how much he wanted one. Fumbling around in his coat, Seifer found a potion bottle and drank it with bottoms up.

The effect was immediate and his wounds healed so fast actually hurt. The bleeding had stopped, but the bullets were still inside his body, so running wouldn't be painless. Gritting his teeth, Seifer got to his feet and dashed up the stairs and found himself on street level again.

He scanned the street in both directions, but saw no trace of the kidnappers. Was he too late? Did they really move that fast? Rinoa wasn't much of a fighter and they most likely had her feet and hands tied up, so all she really could to was wriggle around. SHIT! Would this prove to be the end of his mission, his exam? If he failed this time, he just might get thrown out of SeeD. Headmaster Cid had covered for him a lot of times before, but Seifer was always pressing his luck. Luck didn't last forever, nothing did.

A door opened with a bang behind Seifer and he spun around, fire spell ready and gunblade set to strike. "You're really something different, bodyguard!" It was the same digitally distorted voice. Three guys and Rinoa came out of a building. At a closer look, Seifer noticed that Rinoa was not only back tied and had her legs tied up, but she was also blindfolded. The two thugs held her by the arms as their boss did all the talking.

He wasn't much of a guy. Short, skinny, dressed in dirty clothes and he hadn't seen a hairdresser for years, or so it seemed. "I guess this works out just as well. Sending your head to general Caraway along with a note of our demands must be even more efficient." The leader chuckled. Seifer saw that he had an artificial vocal chord strapped around his throat. Probably a replacement from an injury that generated the synthetic voice which Seifer had heard on the phone.

Seifer relaxed his pose just a bit. Let's not rush this, he thought. Rinoa is the one he had to worry about, the three others he could beat into tomato soup if he saw it fit. "What? No "let the girl go" or anything like that? What kind of SeeD doesn't care about his client?" The leader demanded. "As you said, I'm just a Candidate. Besides, Caraway is my client, not her." Seifer replied coldly. "But she's your primary objective, her well being that is." The leader pointed out.

As much as he hated it, the little fucker had a point. Rinoa was in enough danger to make Seifer flunk his exam. Still, he could try to minimize the damage. No, not try. Do or do not, there is no try Seifer reminded himself. "So you want my head, is that it? Come on over here and collect it then, dirtbag." Seifer called out.

He did have one ace up his sleeve. Rinoa had assumed that Seifer had come from Galbadia Garden, which hardly ever uses para-magic. Just maybe these punks had come to the same conclusion. If that were the case, Quezacotl would give them one hell of a surprise. Just a little while longer, Seifer thought as his mind fanatically worked to summon the Guardian Force.

The leader smiled at Seifer coldly. "You think you can take me in a one on one fight? HA! You arrogant little ass, I'll gladly give you the last lecture of your life." He barked at Seifer before drawing his weapons, dual combat knifes. They were quite plain looking, probably bought at your local hunter or sports store. Since he relied on such a basic weapon, that meant that he was either cocky, stupid or so skilled that weapon didn't really matter.

Seifer sent his fire spell at the charging leader, but it vanished just before impact. A bright yellow light flashed barely a feet away from the leaders face and the fire spell reappeared, hurling straight at Seifer. No way! This punk ass actually had the brains to use reflect for magical defence! Seifer managed just in time to block with the broad side of his gunblade, but the impact knocked him off balance.

The leader smirked as he closed in on the staggering Seifer. "Amateurish!" He snorted before unleashing several quick, though weak slashes at Seifer's torso. Seifer's staggering got worse and he lost his footing, causing him to fall down on a kneeling position. One knife found its way all the way down to the bone in Seifer's right arm. Crying and cursing out in pain, Seifer dropped his gunblade.

Seifer soon found his neck wrapped in the leaders right arm. He pulled out the knife from his arm and tried to slice at the leader with the knife, but the blocked airways made it hard to stay focus. "Now hold still soldier boy, this might sting a bit." The leader laughed.

Just then the clouds above them darkened and sounds of close by thunder filled the air. The leader paused a bit, looking up at the sudden weather change in wonder. His facial expression changed from puzzlement to outrage once he realized what was coming next. "YOU GO TO HELL!" He shouted with his knife raised high over his head. "Ladies first…" Seifer gasped and couldn't resist the temptation to smirk.

Quezacotl came down from the skies through a massive bolt of thunder, tearing the point of impact to shreds, throwing rocks and dust around violently. _"Don't hit the girl!"_ Seifer mentally instructed as Quezacotl charged up to attack. _"Understood master."_ The majestic spirit replied. Sparkles filled the air and they hissed like angry snakes before exploding into a dome of white light that blinded everyone.

The dark skies cleared up, leaving only a smouldering crater where Quezacotl had struck down its massive thunder attack. The leader still clung to Seifer's neck, though there was no strength in his grip. He was reduced to a badly burned and dying corpse. Seifer on the other hand was doing just fine. His clothes were a total mess of course and he had dirt all over his face, but other than that he was in top condition.

Seifer rose from his seated position and dusted off his clothes. "Why… why didn't you die…?" The leader asked weakly, his synthetic vocal chord badly damage, making him hard to understand. "With 97 thunder spells junctioned to elementary defence, it's going to take a little more than a simple lightning GF to take me out." Seifer winked at the defeated leader.

Looking down the street, Seifer saw the two thugs that guarded Rinoa had been blown back by the impact of Quezacotl's thunderstorm attack. Even Rinoa lied flat on her back. Seifer chuckled a little to himself before half running over to the thugs. "Hey are you guys ready for round two? I'm all warmed up and good to go." He said to them. They exchanged nervous glances before scrambling away the best they could.

Seifer did consider chasing them down and bring them in for questioning, but they were most likely just thugs with no brains. They didn't know more than what they needed to and without their mastermind, they wouldn't cause any more havoc. It might even work in his favour, as they would possibly spread word of what happened here and that would scare off other potential kidnappers. "Yes, yes. Mess with the best, die like the rest." Seifer chuckled to himself.

A weak moan caught his attention and he glanced over at Rinoa. Then he froze solid in shock. Through the right side of her belly a big iron girder stood right up. She was sweating and bleeding badly. Seifer knew what he had to do. Cast a cure spell or make her drink a health potion, but he just couldn't get his body moving. Hell, even his mind was jammed up.

A kitten walked up to Rinoa and licked her sweaty face. Seifer felt like he could start moving again, little by little. "Here kitty, kitty…" A little girl's voice could be heard. Seifer's eyes shot forward and saw the same girl that he'd asked to look after Rinoa's shopping bag. "There you are kitty! Bad kitty, don't run off like that. Mr Jameson's dog might get you." She put down the bag and scolded the kitten.

She took the kitten in her arms and rubbed her face into its fur, before looking up at Seifer. "I've still got your bag mister." She said to him. "Yeah… thanks." He replied, sounding very out of it. "Is she your friend?" The girl asked Seifer, nodding at Rinoa. "I guess you could say that." Seifer admitted. "She's hurt. Aren't you going to help her?" The girl then asked.

Seifer blinked at the girl. Suddenly he felt like he'd just been brought back from the dead. The initial shock had worn off and he was again thinking rationally. "Of course I'm going to help her. Hand me the bag will you?" He said, kneeling down by Rinoa's side and cutting her free from the ropes. The girl handed Seifer the bag and he used the baby blanket that Rinoa had bought to stop the bleeding. Rinoa was in such a bad shape that he didn't dare using cure magic on her.

He picked her up in his arms and supported her as best as he could. It wasn't easy, as the iron girder had a piece of concrete attached to it in the other end, causing the iron girder to sway around, making the wound worse. First he had to get that thing out of her, then heal her with magic and potions. Seifer didn't have enough potions, but he knew a good spot to draw some cure spells. "Thanks for your help girl, you're a real lifesaver." Seifer said before he half ran with Rinoa in his arms.

Time was the enemy. Rinoa was pending between being awake and falling unconscious. "Rinoa, can you hear me? Talk to me. Don't you dare pass out on me now. Talk damn it!" Seifer tired to keep her awake, while looking for a good spot to perform improvised surgery on her. "S-s-s-s-s-sure… I'm awake… what…do…you…waaaaaaant… to talk…about….Mmmm…?" Rinoa mumbled, sounding half asleep. "Anything, just keep talking to me." Seifer replied, panting lightly.

They rounded another corner, but it was just another naked street with trash lined up along the house walls. "Do you like pets Rinoa?" Seifer asked her as he noticed a poster for dog food on the wall. "Mmmm? Pets? My face's wet…." Rinoa mumbled weakly. "Yeah? Probably because a kitten liked you in the face, I think it liked you." He replied, still scanning the street for something he could use as a hospital bed. "Nah… I'd rather…have…a…dog… Cats….are…..cuter…..but…less…." Rinoa was drifting away. "Less what? C'mon Rinoa, tell me. I'm dying to know." Seifer panted, feeling frustration building within him. "…fun…cats…are...less…fun." Rinoa sighed as if it was her last breath of life.

Seifer's frustration got mixed up with panic and the sensation of helplessness. Suppressing a scream, Seifer stomped up to the first and best door he found and kicked it open. A mother and her two sons shot out of their chairs in the kitchen as Seifer made his entry. "She's injured badly, I need to use your bedroom." Seifer said. The mother didn't hesitate one second. "This way, quickly." She said in a bossy tone of voice and led the way upstairs.

From the second floor, they headed up to the attic, which was a spare bedroom. "You're safe here. I'll get some towels and hot water." The mother said, gesturing towards the bed. Seifer nodded his thanks and put down the injured Rinoa as gently as he could. It was first then he noticed that his hands were trembling. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. This was not a time to show weakness!

The mother returned with towels and a deep dish with hot water. "We've got to get this iron girder out of her body. Do you have a pencil?" Seifer asked, taking of his coat and threw it on a chair. The mother handed him a pencil, which Seifer planted between Rinoa's teeth. "Soak the towels in water. I'll pull it out and you minimize the bleeding with the towels." Seifer instructed and planted his hands on the iron girder.

They exchanged glances, then nodded to each other. Seifer pulled and the mother practically dived over Rinoa's wounds with the towels. Rinoa's body jerked around in pain, a muffled groan escaped her jaws and her face was one of agony. Then there was a deadly silence. Rinoa didn't move, she just lied there like a life-sized doll. "SHIT!" Seifer spat, throwing the iron girder now covered with Rinoa's blood away.

Seifer placed two fingers on her neck and checked for a pulse. Nothing, he didn't feel a goddamn thing. He cursed his own stupidity and violently jerked of his leather glove before checking again. Still nothing and Rinoa's chest wasn't showing any sign of movement either. "Don't you dare die on me now! I'm not going to take this selfish shit, not even from you!" Seifer shouted out of despair and began giving mouth-to-mouth along with heart massage.

Drops of sweat dripped from Seifer's nose as he tried over and over again to bring Rinoa back. "C'mon…! Fight! Show some goddamn backbone for once!" Seifer called out as tears began popping out of his red shot eyes. Suddenly Rinoa's back jerked backwards in an arch and she coughed deeply. Seifer actually dropped flat on his butt, crying openly with relief. He rested his hand on Rinoa's neck to make sure she had a pulse. The beat that he felt on his fingertips was the best thing he'd felt in years.

Rinoa's breathing was steady, as was her pulse. Her bleeding had settled down, but she wasn't conscious just yet. Since she wasn't awake, she couldn't drink any health potions so Seifer had to go out to stock up on some cure spells, but he was reluctant to leave Rinoa in her state with a house of strangers.

The mother of the house patted Seifer on his shoulder as she noticed his troubled look. "Don't worry. She's safe here. Soundwave and his thugs were wrong to use this girl to get to Caraway." She said reassuringly. Seifer glanced up at her. "You knew…?" He stuttered. "Of course. Almost everyone in Timber belongs to a resistance cell, though some more extreme than others." She admitted. "So what does that make you?" Seifer asked, getting back on his feet. "Neither friend or foe." The mother smiled. "Great… I picked one hell of a summer to quit smoking." Seifer sighed before heading downstairs.

Seifer found what he needed just down the street and healed Rinoa the best he could with cure spells. Rinoa's wound patched up nice and clean. It hardly left a scar, though the cure spells didn't bring Rinoa back to a conscious state. "Magic is a wonderful thing, as is science, but both of them only goes so far. We better just wait and leave the rest to Hyne." The mother said while cleaning up the attic.

He nodded his agreement and took a seat on the floor next to the bed. He took Rinoa's hand in his and gently stroked it with his thumb. Wait for her to wake up, just like back then, Seifer thought. His mind began to be filled with clouds of sleep. It began to drift away, back to that time with Fujin.

In the Balamb Garden infirmary, Fujin lied on the bed, at least half a dozen life-supporting machines were hooked up to her body. Bleeping, pumping and monitoring at a dull, steady mechanical pace. Seifer sat by the side of the bed, his face buried in his hands. Fujin's head was wrapped in bandage and her injured eye was covered up as well.

He cast a glance up at the clock. 20 seconds had past since the last time he'd looked. This was going to be a long day. Dr Kadowaki came in and offered him a cup of steaming fresh coffee. He took it, but didn't drink it. For some reason he felt a little better just holding it in his trembling hands. What had he done? How was he going to live with himself after this? What was he? Some kind of sadistic monster that didn't care about others when he should?

Dr Kadowaki glanced at the monitors and studied some of the print outs more carefully before sipping her coffee. "Any news?" Seifer asked with a hoarse voice. "There's always news Seifer, however I'm not sure it's the kind of news you want to hear." Dr Kadowaki replied calmly. "I… insist." Seifer said after some thought.

She sent him a curious glance, but said nothing. Dr Kadowaki's eyes then landed on Fujin's pale, sleeping face. "Examination shows that the attacker used status magic when cutting Fujin in the eye. Unfortunately, we don't know which kind nor the dosage so we can't treat it properly." She began. Seifer wanted to cry, but fought the tears back and swallowed the emotional ball that was swelling in his throat. "Because I killed him, his junction setup was lost…" He said, feeling the tears pressing on harder than before.

Dr Kadowaki said nothing to Seifer's confession, despite that she knew that he was absolutely right. He mentally thanked her for her silence and waited for her to continue. "Because of this injury, we can't give Fujin a synthetic eye. We might not even be able to give her a glass eye either, depending on how long the healing takes." Dr Kadowaki said. Seifer tightened his grip around his coffee cup. The coffee inside was splashing around slightly, though he didn't spill a drop. "What else?" He managed to squeeze out with an effort.

The pause that followed made Seifer's heart turn to stone and sink to the bottom of the sea of emotions. The next piece of information was going to be bad, very bad. Why else hesitate? Dr Kadowaki took a long drink from her coffee cup and sighed heavily before speaking up. "Fujin has a concussion and it's bad. The longer she sleeps, the less likely it is for her to ever wake up." Seifer felt like being eaten alive from the inside and out by maggots. Rippling feeling of dying washed through his blood. What did he do wrong? What could he have done differently?

He hadn't slept since he came back from the Field Exam. The dreams wouldn't let him. Dr Kadowaki suggested either sleeping medicine or magic, but he'd declined. He was afraid that if he went to sleep now, his sanity would leave him forever. "Even if she does wake up…" Dr Kadowaki brought Seifer back to reality, even though he'd rather run away and hide from it right now. "…there's no guarantee that she will be the same. She might even be completely unsuited for SeeD."

Seifer lowered his head in complete defeat. All he wanted was to save Fujin, but instead he'd sent her off into the deep sleep before death. Perhaps it was even worse than that, maybe she'd wake up as a total vegetable or set back to infancy. She could hate him with all her heart and soul. She could even make an attempt to take his life and he'd probably let her, since right now he felt like he didn't deserve any better. Even death was too good for him.

The doors to the infirmary slid open and the Ando twins entered. "Mr Almasy, they're expecting you." The eldest said. Seifer raised his head and looked at them. He made a face and nodded before rising from his chair. As the youngest of the twins put handcuffs on Seifer, he looked over at the sleeping Fujin. This might be the last he ever saw of her. Pity, because he'd always liked her smile.

Other SeeD students step aside as the Ando twins led Seifer from the infirmary to the elevator in the main hall. Even though he had his coat over his wrists to hide the handcuffs, there was no doubt that the great Seifer Almasy was being brought to the headmaster's office in chains. Seifer glanced around at the various faces. They all had a mix of surprise, denial and disappointment on them. Even Squall showed some interest in the big, but mute commotion that took place.

Inside the elevator the twins flanked Seifer, each twin locked her arm with his. Seifer couldn't help but smile a bit at his situation. So this is what a man's got to do in order to make two women lock arms with him at the same time, he thought to himself as the elevator climbed to the third floor.

Seifer woke up because of a pinching sensation on his hand. "Humph, give it a rest. I feel like shit and need my beauty sleep." He mumbled into the bed sheets. "Oh you're just the worlds worst doctor aren't you?" Rinoa's voice called out to him from afar. "Rinoa!" He suddenly was wide-awake. Seifer sunk down a little as he noticed it was all in his head. Rinoa was still sleeping.

The mother came up with a plate of food and drink for Seifer. "How is she?" She asked as she put the plate down on the floor next to Seifer. "No change. How long have I been asleep?" He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Half a day." The mother smiled. "Shit, and I'm supposed to be a professional." Seifer laughed despite of himself.

Rinoa looked so peaceful as she breathed at a steady rhythm, though Seifer knew that behind that calm surface, Rinoa could have terrible nightmares, reviewing the last moments before she lost consciousness over and over again. "Shouldn't you report this to general Caraway?" The mother gently suggested. Seifer nodded and found his cell phone.

Browsing though the installed numbers, Seifer felt something in his hand. It was just like… a small squeeze. "Rinoa…?" He asked her, but she didn't respond in any way. "I think she's coming around, look over her while I make the call." Seifer said and got to his feet.

Seifer stepped down the stairs and stopped halfway to speed dial general Caraway. The phone rang and Seifer was worried on how the general would react to his much-delayed report. Lying would only make matters worse. Stick to the truth and take responsibility, just like back then Seifer reminded himself as the call came through.

A stranger answered the phone. "General Caraway's residence." The stranger grumbled. "This is Seifer Almasy, I'd like to speak with general Caraway please." Seifer said, feeling increasingly nervous. This was going to go straight down to the hot place, express elevator with no additional stops, Seifer just knew it.

There was some mumbling in the background before Caraway came to the phone. "Almasy? Where the hell have you been all day! Police reported to me that there was a huge electrical surge that knocked out 30 blocks and that they found a badly burned body at the centre." Even a guy like Caraway could get bent out of shape Seifer thought before taking a breath and gave his report.

Summer came to an end and Rinoa would soon be able to leave the hospital. General Caraway had decided that they'd both move back to Deling City as soon as Rinoa's health allowed it. Seifer on the other hand was due to report back at Balamb Garden to get his Field Exam evaluated, but first he'd like to give Rinoa one last visit.

Rinoa was sitting in her bed, drawing some sketches to help pass the time when there was a knock on the door. "Come in." She said, putting her pencil and drawing aside. The door opened and Seifer stuck his head in through the crack. "Seifer! Well come on in, don't be shy." Rinoa smiled at him.

Seifer hesitated a bit. "Uhm… I've got something for you." He said a bit sheepishly. "Go on… spill the beans, you know how much I hate secrets." Rinoa teased, still smiling. Seifer opened the door a little more and a tapping sound filled the room.

In through the door walked a dog. It looked around in the room before walking up to Rinoa's bed and rested its head on the edge of the bed. It looked up at her with a pair of lost puppy eyes. "He's name is Angelo. He was meant to be put to death because he didn't have a home, so I thought…" Seifer stopped talking.

Rinoa looked up from Angelo's puppy eyed face and into Seifer's. Tears took form in the corner of her eyes and soon they drew rivers down her cheeks. "Oh Seifer, thank you." She said simply while hugging him.

They chatted a bit about Angelo, what he liked to eat, his home habits, tricks he could do and games he liked to play. Finally Rinoa found the courage to ask Seifer what she really wanted to. "So… what happens next?" She asked and at those words, the atmosphere of the room dropped considerably.

Seifer evaded her eyes for a moment before replying. "I go to my home and you go to yours." He shrugged. Rinoa shook her head in disagreement. "That's it? You just switch all of this off, like some sort of light switch?" She demanded. "We can't… keep this up, me in Balamb, you in Deling. It wouldn't work." Seifer replied, though he sounded like he spoke with a heavy heart.

Angelo whined a little and Seifer rubbed the back of his head as comfort. "If I send you letters, will you write back?" Rinoa asked, staying on the subject. "Most likely, but I don't know for how long. I might get stationed in Fisherman's Horizon over night, making all your letters piling up at Garden." Seifer pointed out.

Rinoa's face turned into a sad frown. "Is this why you got him for me?" She asked Seifer, stroking Angelo's head gently. "Partially…" He admitted, looking out the window. "What about you? Got any plans? Follow your mothers path down the musical line or…?" Seifer said, changing the subject.

Angelo ate some snacks from Rinoa's hand as she spoke. "I don't know what to do. I'm confused. So much has happened over so little time. I need time to digest it more than anything I think." She said. He nodded. "If you want something to do, why not fight for Timber's independence?" Seifer suggested.

Rinoa blinked at him. "Seriously?" She asked as if she'd heard him wrong. "Well, you don't like your dad much and the resistance fractions in Timber did help you out a lot. Might as well go as far as say that they saved your life back there." He said. Rinoa considered what he said, before declining. "I know nothing about military, tactics or that kind of thing." She said.

Seifer made a face at her reason for backing off. "Who said you need to make bombs and blow them up, or plant a sniper on a roof to take out some VIP?" He asked. "You mean there are other ways to achieve Timber's independence?" She wondered. "Sure, there's hardly a problem that doesn't have multiple solutions. Just show some backbone and go out there and get 'em." Seifer enthusiastically said.

Rinoa frowned. "Even if we do as you say, at some point we'll be forced to come into open revolt with Galbadia. That means we must become fighters sooner or later, there's just no way around it, unless you're a… sorceress." She objected. "Then become a sorceress." Seifer said simply.

Angelo followed their little debate with interest, but quickly found the edge of Seifer's coat more interesting once Rinoa started laughing. "Just like that, huh? Become a sorceress, over night? I wish I had your confidence." She said once she'd calmed down. "Another option is of course to hire SeeD to do the fighting for you." Seifer said, pouting a bit because Rinoa was still struggling to keep a straight face.

Rinoa started laughing even more when hearing that. "Hire SeeD! HE, HE, HE, HA, HA, HA! Oh darn that hurts, my tummy! Gils don't grow on trees Seifer. There's no way I can raise enough money to hire a SeeD to do my fighting, let alone a small squad." Rinoa laughed so hard, she almost flopped herself out of bed.

"Look, should it ever come to that I'll put in a good word for you with my headmaster. He's a kind-hearted man, so if you got to talk to him rather than those asses in administration, you might get lucky. You don't get any SeeD's if you don't try anyway." Seifer said, reaching out to Rinoa with his hand, worried that she might actually fall out of bed.

Rinoa wiped her tears away, still giggling a little before calming down. "That's true, nothing comes out of not trying. But I need to find a group and get familiar with it and everything…" She said. "Don't sweat it. Only chance you've at getting inside Garden and meet the headmaster is at the graduation ball. Unless someone passes their Field Exam this semester, there won't be another one until next year. That should be enough time, right?" Seifer replied.

Before she could answer, Seifer's cell phone buzzed into life. "Excuse me a moment." He said before stepping away from the bed and answering the phone. "Yes?" "Seifer? This is Quistis speaking. I just wanted to tell you that I now function as your instructor and would like to have you back at Garden by this evening. If you take the 13:15 train you should make it." Quistis babbled on. "Instructor's licence, eh? Wonder how Mr Leonhart feels about that." Seifer couldn't pass on a chance to pull Quistis leg. "Just get back to Garden Seifer, I'll send Xu to pick you up." Quistis said before hanging up. "Eh? No wait, not Xu…!" Seifer objected in vain.

"Time to say goodbye?" Rinoa asked from the bed. "Looks like it." Seifer sighed. He looked at Rinoa who had that sad frown again. "I could say something incredible cheesy to make you feel better, but nothing comes to mind so I'll just settle with: I'll see you when I see you." With that, he left and didn't look back.


End file.
